78 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



happily, much less dependent for success on the weather than 

 when after the perfect insect, and we did very well. The oak 

 branches supplied a good haul of the larvpe of Z. quercns to the 

 beating-tray. Many of the oaks at Monk's Wood were infested 

 with an astonishing number of the greenish-grey larvte of Tortrix 

 vlridana. They had cleared off the young leaves and were hang- 

 ing by silken threads, which, becoming entangled, formed thick 

 ropes, up and down which the larvte moved. As one walked or 

 bicycled under the trees one's head and shoulders were imme- 

 diately festooned, and the sound of their " frass " falling on the 

 dead leaves was like that of a shower of fine rain. 



Besides these three species of Theclid larv?e we saw or took, 

 on the wing, the two Skippers //. malne and A', taijes (very 

 plentiful when the sun was out), C. argiolus and P. icarns, Pieris 

 rapes, napi and hrassicce (the two latter species very common), 

 several E. cardamincs, and a few G. rhainni. Of hybernated 

 Vanessids we saw T". to, A. nrticce, and P. cardux. The males of 

 B. eiqyhrosync were out and common in the sheltered and low- 

 lying north-east corner of the wood when the sun shone, but the 

 females very scarce. P. rncgfeni and ('. pamijhilus were fairly 

 abundant — fifteen species of perfect insects and three of Theclid 

 larvae. 



On Monday morning (May 27th) we took the 7.15 train to 

 Peterborough and bicycled up the Nene valley to Wansford 

 (seven miles), where the Great North Eoad, which we had left at 

 Alconbury Hill, crosses the river into Northamptonshire. There 

 is a fine old stone bridge with angular recesses above the piers, 

 allowing foot passengers to take shelter from the coaches, which 

 must have gone by at a sharp pace as they came down through' 

 the village, southward bound. The stream below was a sheet of 

 white from the beds of water ranunculus. 



The town was full owing to the camps of the Air Service in 

 the neighbourhood, but we found good accommodation at the 

 "Paper Mill" Inn on the south side. We started off about 9.30 

 for a wood some three miles away to the north-west. It is a 

 north-eastern outlier of the tracts of woodland, marked in the 

 map as Eockingham Forest, scattered over the higher ground 

 (230-400 ft.) between the Nene and the Welland. The crumbly 

 oolitic soil into which we had passed on the way from Peter- 

 borough is a pleasant contrast to the stiff clay of Monk's Wood. 

 Many limes are here mingled with oaks and birches, and I did 

 not notice any privet. The oaks were, moreover, free of the 

 depredations of T. viridana. 



The sun began to come out, at intervals, about eleven, and 

 we were soon catching C. imUcmon, the Chequered Skipper — the 

 first time that I had met with it in England. There were very 

 few females, but the males were the commonest butterfly in the 

 wood, frequenting the open glades where there is high grass and 



